File Conductor

The File Conductor is a file manager for Commodore 128 computers. It can run as a loadable program, an internal function ROM or external function ROM. It is capable of copying, moving, deleting, renaming and making directories. The focus is on making a compatible, reliable and user friendly file manager.

From version 1.2, there's experimental support for PET, VIC20 and C64. The VIC20 variant requires a 32 KiB RAM expansion. The PET variant requires BASIC 4 and 32 KiB RAM. There's a separate version for 64 KiB RAM machines. The most notable difference is that it supports more files in the listers before it splits up the file lists in pages.

Compatibility

The kernal is used for all file handling to provide maximum compatibility with a range of devices. This means that you will need JiffyDOS or other similar speed DOS replacement if you want copying to be reasonably fast. There is no built in turbo loader or saver.

Supported file formats are PRG, SEQ and REL. USR is only supported if used as a sequential file. Most notably GEOS USR files won't be supported and neither the WARP25 files produced by later versions of Action Replay.

Special devices

The 1581 partitions are treated like directories in general, but partitions can't be created or deleted with this program.

Unsupported devices

The ROM version variants aren't compatible with RAMLink due to how RAMLink overrides the ROM. The PRG variant supports RAMLink though.
1541U2+L doesn't handle drive commands with unit numbers so this won't work (only with a mounted disk image).
Pi1541 doesn't handle loading directory as a sequential file so this won't work (only with a mounted disk image).

Download

fileconductor_1.2.530.7z

Quick Reference

You can basically control everything using just CURSOR keys and the RETURN key. The RETURN key brings up a menu with actions to perform. There are more keys to learn that will speed up your work. Press HELP to get full instructions in the program (H on C64).

Version history

Initial version.

A select marker character for monochrome screens.
Turn off fast mode by default if booting with 80-column mode.
Print ready prompt when leaving.
New color scheme.
Keep directories and partitions sorted when walking up in the directory tree.
Avoid copying within the same 1581 drive since that's not supported by the drive.
Automatic sort for directories with subdirectories.
The S key toggles sorting on/off.
Directory and device refresh actions.
Select and deselect all files with A and CLR.
HOME jumps to first file.
Device number swap.
Added cursor character.
Read device names from error channel after reset, if needed.
Added cancel option to SYS question.
Fix for JiffyDOS error message spam after exit.
Fix for selection rendering bug.
Fix for rendering outside window when making directory with narrow screen.
Reload target lister when deleting if target is a child of source.
Rough PET drive detection.
Fix for memory corruption bug.
Show some dual drives as partitions.
Only use characters compatible with european character sets.

Fix for not turning on 2 MHz by default when RAMLink is connected.
Utilize more memory on the C128 to store more filenames.
Allow aborting delete, copy and move.
Tweaked C128 40 column colors to provide more contrast. It didn't work well with a bad composite signal.
Added support for IDE64.
Fixed cursor blinking after launching a program.

Platform limitations/differences

	PET 32K	PET 64K	VIC20	C64	C128 PRG	C128 cart
Run programs	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
BASIC program	Overwritten	Overwritten	Overwritten	Overwritten	Overwritten	Intact
Instructions	External prg	External prg	External prg	Built-in	Built-in	Built-in
Approx files/dir	2400- 4096	25000- 32000	8192	43000- 65000	24900- 65000	54500- 131000
Max path size	256	256	256	512	512	512
Max copy dir depth	128	128	128	128	128	128